The modern state of Italy did not come into being until 1861, though the roots of music on the Italian peninsula can be traced back to the music of Ancient Rome. However, the underpinnings of much modern Italian music come from the Middle Ages. The music of Italy is somewhat of a microcosm of Western music in general. ... // Art Music Art music is a somewhat broader term than classical music and may be defined for the purposes of this article as establishment music (either religious or secular) that is composed for pubic or private performance. ... Italian opera can be divided into three periods, the Baroque, the Romantic and the modern. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Italy is a European country, and has had a long relationship with rock and roll, a style of music which spread to the country by the early 1960s from the United States. ... There was a dynamic Italian hardcore punk scene in the 1980s . ... Italian hip hop started in the early 1990s. ... Italian folk music has a deep and complex history. ... Italian jazz. ... Time line for Music of Italy Dates for musical periods such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc. ... Italian music awards There are a great number of music competitions that offer prizes for performance and composition in both classical and popular music. ... FIMI Federazione dellindustria musicale italiana (Federation of the Italian music industry) is an umbella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italian. ... Italian music festivals Below is a list of major music festivals in Italy with links to the appropriate external websites: Arena di Verona Outdoor opera during the summer months in the Roman amphitheater in Verona. ... Palazzo dei Priori in Perugia The Umbria Jazz Festival is one of the most important venues for Jazz in Europe and has been held annually since 1973, usually in July, in the city of Perugia, Italy. ... The Festival della canzone italiana (in Italian: Festival of the Italian song) is a popular Italian song contest running since 1951 and held annually in the city of Sanremo. ... The annual Festival of Ravello is a popular music venue in Italy. ... Cathedral of Santa Maria dellAssunta in Spoleto The Festival dei due Mondi (Festival of Two Worlds) is an annual summer festival in the city of Spoleto, Italy. ... Music media in Italy There is an abundance of print, on-line and broadcast media in Italy that cover all kinds of music. ... A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is evoking and eulogizing the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognzed either by a nations government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. ... Il Canto degli Italiani (The Song of the Italians) is the Italian national anthem. ... The development of music in the Aosta Valley region of Italy, similar to nearby Piedmont, has much to do with the presence of medieval monasteries that preserved important musical manuscripts from the Middle Ages and also served as conduits of information and influence from areas to the north. ... At first glance, the Music of Abruzzo seems less defined than other regional music in Italy. ... The music of Basilicata is sparse at the moment. ... The Music of Calabria Like other regions in southern Italy, Calabria for many centuries was an integral part of the kingdom of Naples, and, as with other regions, the musical life tended to be overshadowed by the important activities in the capital city to the north--the conservatories there, the... Music of Campania The capital city of the Campania region of Italy is Naples; there is a separate article dealing with the Music of Naples. ... The Music of Emilia-Romagna has the reputation of being one of the richest in Europe; there are six music conservatories alone in the region, and the sheer number of other musical venues and activities is astounding. ... While Florence, itself, needs no introduction as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, the music of Florence may, in fact, need such an introduction. ... The musical fortunes of Friuli-Venezia Giulia are closely tied to its political fortunes over the course of centuries, all having to do with proximity to the great maritime Republic of Venice as well as to the Austro-Hungarian empire and the vicissitudes of being a heavily contested area during... (For music outside of the city and province of Genoa in the Liguria region of Italy, see Music of Liguria. ... (Latium (Lazio) is a region in central Italy that includes the city and province of Rome. ... The Music of Liguria flourished in the 19th century for a number of reasons. ... (This article is about the Music of Lombardy outside of the city and province of Milan. ... (This article is about music in and of the city and province of Milan. ... While it is one of the smalles regions of Italy, the Music of Molise is active. ... Ciao, Raggazi Music of Naples is very cool ... The Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian) has played an important role in the development of music, in general, in Italy, due to the presence of medieval monasteries in that area, institutions that were great preservers of mansucripts in the Middle Ages as well as being geographically well located to connect to... The Music of Puglia has had some glorious history as well as some very hard times. ... The Music of Rome is intensely active. ... Probably the most culturally distinct of all the regions in Italy, Sardinia is an islated island known for the tenores polyphonic chant, sacred songs called gozos and launeddas, a type of bagpipes. ... Sicily is home to a great variety of Christian music, including a cappella devotional songs from Montedoro and many brass bands like Banda Ionica, who play songs from a diverse repertoire. ... The Music of Trentino-South Tyrol reflects the multilingual and multiethnic make-up of the region. ... (This article is about the Music of Tuscany outside of the city and province of Florence. ... If there were a way to measure music per capita the Music of Umbria would rank very high. ... The music of Veneto has much to offer. ... (This article is about music in and of the city of Venice. ... Below is a list of major Italian opera houses with appropriate external links to their websites: Bologna Teatro Comunale Catania Teatro Bellini Florence Teatro la Pergola Genova Teatro Carlo Felice Florence La Scala Naples Teatro San Carlo Parma Teatro Regio di Parma Palermo Teatro Massimo Rome Teatro dellOpera Torino... Below is an alphabetical list, by city, of those music conservatories in Italy that maintain webpages. ... There is also an article on Italian musical terms used in English. ... Detail of a mosaic found in Pompeii. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

Before 1500

Italy was the site of several key musical developments in the development of the Christian liturgies in the West. Around 230, well before Christianity was legalized, the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus attested the singing of Psalms with refrains of Alleluia in Rome. In 386, in imitation of Eastern models, St. Ambrose wrote hymns, some of whose texts still survive, and introduced antiphonal psalmody to the West. Around 425, Pope Celestine I contributed to the development of the Roman Rite by introducing the responsorial singing of a Gradual, and Cassian, Bishop of Brescia, contributed to the development of the monastic Office by adapting Egyptian monastic psalmody to Western usage. Later, around 530, St. Benedict would arrange the weekly order of monastic psalmody in his Rule. Later, in the 6th century, Venantius Fortunatus created some of Christianity's most enduring hymns, including "Vexilla regis prodeunt," which would later become the most popular hymn of the Crusades.^[1] In the Catholic Church and in some other religious bodies, Sacred Tradition is held as one infallible, inerrant source for teaching and doctrine on matters related to faith and morals. ... Statue of Hippolytus, 3rd century. ... Psalms (Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh. ... Hallelujah, Halleluyah, or Alleluia, is a transliteration of the Hebrew word הַלְלוּיָהּ meaning [Let us] praise (הַלְלוּ) God (יָהּ) (or Praise (הַלְלוּ) [the] Lord (יָהּ)). It is found mainly in the book of Psalms. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) coordinates: 41°54′N 12°29′E Time Zone: UTC+1 Administration Subdivisions 19 municipi Province Rome Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni ( The Union ) Characteristics Area 1,285 km² Population 2,547,677 (2005 estimate) Density 1983... Saint Ambrose, Latin Sanctus Ambrosius, Italian SantAmbrogio (circa 340 - April 4, 397), bishop of Milan, was one of the most eminent fathers of the Christian church in the 4th century. ... This article is about the musical term. ... Saint Celestine I was pope from 422 to 432. ... Latin Rite, in the singular and accompanied, in English, by the definite article, refers to the sui juris particular Church of the Roman Catholic Church that developed in the area of western Europe and northern Africa where Latin was for many centuries the language of education and culture. ... A responsory is a type of chant in Christian liturgies that involves one section singing a respond, answered by another section singing a verse, then the respond is sung again by the first section, followed by a different verse from the second, et al. ... The Gradual (Latin: graduale, sometimes called the Grail) is a chant in the Roman Catholic Mass, sung after the reading or singing of the Epistle and before the Alleluia, or, during penitential seasons, before the Tract. ... Cassian, or Saint Cassian of Imola was a Christian saint of the 4th century. ... Country Italy Region Lombardy Province Brescia (BS) Mayor Paolo Corsini (since June 10, 2003) Elevation 150 m Area 90 km² Population  - Total (as of December 31, 2004) 192,165  - Density 2,087/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Bresciani Dialing code 030 Postal code 25100 Frazioni Fornaci, Sant... Canonical hours are ancient divisions of time, developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. ... Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. ... Link title St Benedict of Nursia (c. ... Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus (c. ... This article is about historical Crusades . ...

The Guidonian Hand

The earliest extant music in the West is plainsong,^[2] a kind of monophonic, unaccompanied, early Christian singing performed by Roman Catholic monks, which was largely developed roughly between the seventh and twelfth centuries. Although Gregorian chant has its roots in Roman chant and is popularly associated with Rome, it is not indigenous to Italy, nor was it the earliest nor the only Western plainchant tradition. Ireland, Spain, and France each developed a local plainchant tradition, but only in Italy did several chant traditions thrive simultaneously: Ambrosian chant in Milan, Old Roman chant in Rome, and Beneventan chant in Benevento and Montecassino. Gregorian chant, which supplanted the indigenous Old Roman and Beneventan traditions, derived from a synthesis of Roman and Gallican chant in Carolingian France. Gregorian chant later came to be strongly identified with Rome, especially as musical elements from the north were added to the Roman Rite, such as the Credo in 1014. This was part of a general trend wherein the manuscript tradition in Italy weakened and Rome began to follow northern plainchant traditions. Gregorian chant supplanted all the other Western plainchant traditions, Italian and non-Italian, except for Ambrosian chant, which survives to this day. The native Italian plainchant traditions are notable for a systematic use of ornate, stepwise melodic motion within a generally narrower range, giving the Italian chant traditions a smoother, more undulating feel than the Gregorian.^[3] Crucial in the transmission of chant were the innovations of Guido d'Arezzo, whose Micrologus, written around 1020, described the musical staff, solmization, and the Guidonian hand (image, right). This early form of do-re-mi created a technical revolution in the speed at which chants could be learned, memorized, and recorded. Much of the European classical musical tradition, including opera and symphonic and chamber music can be traced back to these Italian medieval developments in musical notation,^[4] formal music education and construction techniques for musical instruments. Broadly speaking, plainsong is the name given to the body of traditional songs used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. ... In music, the word texture is often used in a rather vague or informal way in reference to the overall sound of a piece of music. ... Gregorian chant is also known as plainchant or plainsong and is a form of monophonic, unaccompanied singing, which was developed in the Catholic Church, mainly during the period 800-1000. ... Ambrosian chant (also known as Milanese chant) is the liturgical plainchant repertory of the Ambrosian rite of the Roman Catholic Church, related to but distinct from Gregorian chant. ... Milan (Italian: Milano; Milanese: Milán) is the main city of northern Italy, and is located in the plains of Lombardy, the most populated and developed region in Italy, being often mistaken with the capital of the country. ... Old Roman chant is the liturgical plainchant repertory of the Roman rite of the Roman Catholic Church formerly performed in Rome, closely related to but distinct from the Gregorian chant which gradually supplanted between the 11th century and the 13th century. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) coordinates: 41°54′N 12°29′E Time Zone: UTC+1 Administration Subdivisions 19 municipi Province Rome Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni ( The Union ) Characteristics Area 1,285 km² Population 2,547,677 (2005 estimate) Density 1983... Beneventan chant is a liturgical plainchant repertory of the Roman Catholic Church, used primarily in the orbit of the southern Italian ecclesiastical centers of Benevento and Montecassino, distinct from Gregorian chant and closely related to Ambrosian chant. ... Benevento is a town and archiepiscopal see of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 32 miles northeast of Naples. ... The restored Abbey Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about eighty miles (130 km) south of Rome, Italy, a mile to the west of the town of Cassino (the Roman Cassinum having been on the hill) and about 1700 ft (520 m) altitude. ... Gallican chant refers to the liturgical plainchant repertory of the Gallican rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Gaul, prior to the introduction and development of elements of the Roman rite from which Gregorian chant evolved. ... Also see: France in the Middle Ages. ... Latin Rite, in the singular and accompanied, in English, by the definite article, refers to the sui juris particular Church of the Roman Catholic Church that developed in the area of western Europe and northern Africa where Latin was for many centuries the language of education and culture. ... In Latin, the word credo means I believe. ... In music, a step is a linear or succesive interval between two pitches which are consecutive scale degrees. ... Guido of Arezzo or Guido Monaco (995-1050) is regarded as the inventor of modern musical notation (staff notation) that replaced neumatic notation. ... In musical notation, the staff or stave is a set of five horizontal lines on which note symbols are placed to indicate pitch and time. ... In music and sight singing solfege or solmization is a way of assigning syllables to degrees or steps of the diatonic scale. ... The Guidonian hand was a mnenomic device attributed to Guido of Arezzo in the Micrologus. ... Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognisable opera houses and landmarks. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ...

Even as the northern chant traditions were displacing indigenous Italian chant, displaced musicians from the north contributed to a new thriving musical culture in 12th-century Italy. The Albigensian Crusade, supposedly to attack Cathar heretics, brought southern France under northern French control and crushed Occitan culture and language. Most troubadours fled, especially to Spain and Italy. Italy developed its own counterparts to troubadours, called trovatori, including Sordello of Mantua. Frederick II, the last great Hohenstaufen Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily, encouraged music at the Sicilian court, which became a refuge for these displaced troubadours, where they contributed to a melting pot of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim musical styles. Italian secular music was largely the province of these jongleurs, troubadors, and mimes.^[5] One important consequence of the troubadour influence during this period, in Italy and across Europe, was the gradual shift from writing strictly in Latin to the local language, as championed by Dante in his treatise De vulgari eloquentia; this development extended to the lyrics of popular songs and forms such as the madrigal,^[6] meaning "in the mother tongue." Also around this time, Italian flagellants developed the Italian folk hymns known as spiritual laude. The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade (1209 - 1229) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate the religion practiced by the Cathars of Languedoc, which the Roman Catholic hierarchy considered apostasy. ... A troubadour was a composer and performer of songs during the Middle Ages in Europe. ... Sordello was a 13th-century Italian troubadour, born in Mantua. ... Mantua (in Italian Mantova, in the local dialect of Emiliano-Romagnolo language Mantua) is an important city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province with the same name. ... Frederick II (December 26, 1194 – December 13, 1250), Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212, unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 until his death in 1250. ... Arms of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty The Hohenstaufen (or the Staufer(s)) were a dynasty of Kings of Germany, many of whom were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor and Dukes of Swabia. ... Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Dante redirects here. ... De vulgari eloquentia is the title of an important essay by Dante Alighieri, written in Latin and initially meant to consist in four books, but aborted after the second. ... Madrigal may refer to: Madrigal, Spain Trecento-Madrigal, a musical form of the 13th and 14th centuries Madrigal (music), a musical form of the 16th and 17th centuries Madrigal (literature) Madrigal may also be: A city in the computer game Myth The fictional character Anna Madrigal from Armistead Maupins... Flagellants are practitioners of an extreme form of mortification of their own flesh by whipping it with various instruments. ... Laude (singular: lauda, or lauda spirituale) is the most important form of vernacular sacred song in Italy in the late medieval era and Renaissance. ...

Between 1317 and 1319, Marchettus of Padua wrote the Lucidarium in artae musicae planae and the Pomerium artis musicae mensuratae, major treatises on plainchant and polyphony, expounding a theory of rhythmic notation that paved the way for trecento music (Italian ars nova). Around 1335, the Rossi Codex, the earliest extant collection of Italian secular polyphony, included examples of indigenous Italian genres of the trecento including early madrigals, cacce, and ballate. The early madrigal was simpler than the more well-known later madrigals, usually consisting of tercets arranged polyphonically for two voices, with a refrain called a ritornello. The caccia was often in three-part harmony, with the top two lines set to words in musical canon. The early ballata was often a poem in the form of a virelai set to a monophonic melody.^[7] The Rossi Codex included music by Jacopo da Bologna, the first famous trecento composer. Marchetto da Padova (Marchettus of Padua) (b. ... Broadly speaking, plainsong is the name given to the body of traditional songs used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... Landini, the most famous composer of the trecento, playing a portative organ (illustration from the 15th century Squarcialupi Codex) The trecento was a period of vigorous activity in Italy in the arts, including painting, architecture, literature, and music. ... The ars nova was a stylistic period in music of the Late Middle Ages, centered in France, which encompassed the period from the publication of the Roman de Fauvel (1310 and 1314) until the death of Machaut (1377). ... The Rossi Codex (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rossi 215), is a music manuscript collection of the 14th century. ... The ballata (plural: ballate) is an Italian poetic and musical form which was in use from the late 13th to the 15th century. ... A virelai is a form of medieval French verse used often in poetry and music. ... In music, the word texture is often used in a rather vague way in reference to the overall sound of a piece of music. ... Jacopo da Bologna (fl. ...

The Ivrea Codex, dated around 1360, and the Squarcialupi Codex, dated around 1410, were major sources of late trecento music, including the music of Francesco Landini, the famous blind composer. Landini's name was attached to his characteristic "Landini cadence," in which the final note of the melody dips down two notes before returning, such as C-B-A-C. Trecento music influenced northern musicians such as Johannes Ciconia, whose synthesis of the French and Italian styles presaged the "international" music typical of the Renaissance. Illustration from the Squarcialupi Codex, showing Francesco Landini playing a portative organ The Squarcialupi Codex (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Med. ... Landini playing a miniature organ (illustration from the 15th century Squarcialupi Codex) Francesco Landini or Landino (around 1325 – September 2, 1397) was an Italian composer, organist, singer, poet and instrument maker. ... A Landini cadence is a technique in music composition, named after Francesco Landini in honor of his extensive use of the technique. ... Johannes Ciconia (circa 1335 or circa 1373 – between June 10 and July 12, 1412) was a late Medieval composer and music theorist. ...

During the 15th century, Italy entered a slow period in native composition, with the exception of a few bright lights such as the performer and anthologist Leonardo Giustinian. As the powerful northern families such as the d'Este and Medici built up powerful political dynasties, they brought northern composers of the Franco-Flemish school such as Josquin and Compère to their courts. Starting in the last decades of the century, Italian composers such as Marchetto Cara and Bartolomeo Tromboncino wrote light, courtly songs called frottole for the Mantuan court of Isabella d'Este. With the support of the Medici, the Florentine Mardi Gras season led to the creation of witty, earthy carnival songs called canti carnascialeschi. For Tolkiens fictional character, see Estë To know more about the city, see Este (city) The House of Este is a European princely dynasty. ... The Medici coat of arms The Medici family was a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century. ... In music, the Dutch School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. ... Josquin Des Prez Josquin Des Prez (diminutive of Joseph; latinized Josquinus Pratensis) (c. ... Manuscript of Omnium bonorum plena, a motet by Compère, and probably his earliest surviving work; the exact date is unknown, but probably c. ... Marchetto Cara (c. ... Bartolomeo Tromboncino (c. ... The frottola is the predominant type of Italian popular, secular song of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century. ... Mantua (in Italian Mantova, in the local dialect of Emiliano-Romagnolo language Mantua) is an important city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province with the same name. ... Isabella dEste One of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance, Isabella dEste (18 May 1474 - 13 February 1539) was a major cultural and political figure. ... Florence (Italian, Firenze) is a city in the center of Tuscany, in central Italy, on the Arno River, with a population of around 400,000, plus a suburban population in excess of 200,000. ...

Renaissance era, 16th century

For more details, see also Roman School, Venetian School, Venetian polychoral style, Music of Venice

Saint Mark's in Venice. The spacious, resonant interior was one of the inspirations for the music of the Venetian School.

The 16th century saw the advent of printed polyphonic music and advances in instrumental music, which contributed to the international distribution of music characteristic of the Renaissance. In 1501, Ottaviano dei Petrucci published the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, the first substantial collection of printed polyphonic music, and in 1516, Andrea Antico published the Frottole intablate da sonari organi, the earliest printed Italian music for keyboard. Italy became the primary center of harpsichord construction, violin production started in Cremona in the workshop of Andrea Amati, and lutenist Francesco Canova da Milano earned Italy an international reputation for virtuosic musicianship.^[8] In music history, the Roman School was a group of composers active in Rome from the mid-16th to the mid-17th centuries, most famous for their sacred music and polished polyphony; the most famous was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. ... In music history, the Venetian School is a term used to describe the composers working in Venice from about 1550 to around 1610; it also describes the music they produced. ... The Venetian polychoral style was a type of music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras which involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation. ... (This article is about music in and of the city of Venice. ... Image File history File links Film: Fuji Velvia Lens: 2. ... Image File history File links Film: Fuji Velvia Lens: 2. ... This article is about the city of Cremona. ...

Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa.

Music achieved new heights of cultural respectability. Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier recommended proficiency at music as a courtly virtue, and Santa Maria di Loreto, the first music conservatory, was built in Naples. Adrian Willaert developed music for double chorus at St. Mark's in Venice. This tradition of Venetian polychoral music would reach its height in the early baroque music of Giovanni Gabrieli. Unlike the earlier, simpler madrigals of the trecento, madrigals of the 16th century were written for several voices, often by non-Italians brought into the wealthy northern courts. Madrigalists aspired to create high art, often using the refined poetry of Petrarchan sonnets, and utilizing musically sophisticated techniques such as text painting. Composers such as Cipriano de Rore and Orlando di Lasso experimented with increasing chromaticism, which would culminate in the mannerist music of Carlo Gesualdo. In 1558, Gioseffo Zarlino, the premier musical theorist of the period, wrote the Istitutioni harmoniche, which addressed such practical musical issues as invertible counterpoint. Lighter music was represented by the villanella, which originated in popular songs of Naples and spread throughout Italy. Don Carlo Gesualdo; from French wiki I believe this was scanned from the 1926 book by C. Gray and P. Heseltine (see refs on Carlo Gesualdo) and is therefore public domain; needs to be checked though. ... Don Carlo Gesualdo; from French wiki I believe this was scanned from the 1926 book by C. Gray and P. Heseltine (see refs on Carlo Gesualdo) and is therefore public domain; needs to be checked though. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Book of the Courtier (Italian Il Cortegiano) was written by Baldassare Castiglione in 1528. ... Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Nàpule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region and the Province of Naples. ... Adrian Willaert (c. ... San Marco in the evening St Marks Basilica (Italian: Basilica di San Marco in Venezia) is the most famous of the churches of Venice and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. ... Country Italy Region Veneto Province Venice (VE) Mayor Massimo Cacciari (since April 18, 2004) Elevation m Area 412 km² Population  - Total (as of December 31, 2004) 271,251  - Density 646/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Veneziani Dialing code 041 Postal code 30100 Frazioni Chirignago, Favaro Veneto, Mestre... Giovanni Gabrieli Giovanni Gabrieli (1554–1557? – August 12, 1612) was an Italian composer and organist. ... From mille trecento, Italian for 1300. ... A Petrarchan sonnet, also called the Italian sonnet, is a sonnet comprising an octave and a closing sestet. ... Cypriano de Rore or Cipriano de Rore (1515 or 1516 – September 1565) was a Franco-Flemish composer and teacher. ... Orlande de Lassus, a. ... In music, chromatic indicates the inclusion of notes not in the prevailing scale and is also used for those notes themselves (Shir-Cliff et al 1965, p. ... Mannerism is the usual English term for an approach to all the arts, particularly painting but not exclusive to it, a reaction to the High Renaissance, emerging after the Sack of Rome in 1527 shook Renaissance confidence, humanism and rationality to their foundations, and even Religion had split apart. ... Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa. ... Gioseffo Zarlino (January 31 or March 22, 1517 – February 4, 1590), was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. ... Counterpoint is a broad organisational feature of much music, involving the simultaneous sounding of separate musical lines. ... In music, a villanella (pl. ... Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Nàpule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region and the Province of Naples. ...

Music was not immune to the politically charged atmosphere of Renaissance Italy. In 1559, Antonio Gardano published Musica nova, whose politically pro-republican partisan songs pleased the northern Italian republics and riled the Church.^[9] In 1562-1563, the third portion of the Council of Trent addressed issues of music in the Church. Most paraliturgical music, including all but four Sequences were banned. An outright ban on polyphonic music was debated behind the scenes, and guidelines were issued requiring that church music have clear words and a pure, uplifting style. Although the tales of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina "rescuing" polyphony with the Missa Papae Marcelli are no longer accepted by scholars, Palestrina's music remains the paradigm of the musical aesthetic promoted by the Church.^[10] Shortly afterwards, in 1614, the Editio medicea (Medicean Edition) of Gregorian chant was released, rewriting the Gregorian chant repertory to purge it of perceived corruptions and barbarisms, and return it to a "purer" state closer in style to Palestrinian melodies. The Council of Trent is the Nineteenth Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. ... In Latin poetry, a sequence (Latin sequentia) is a poem written in a non-classical metre, often on a sacred Christian subject. ... Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (born in Palestrina (Praeneste) near Rome, 1525, latest February 1, 1526 – February 2, 1594 in Rome) was an Italian composer of Renaissance music. ...

In the late 16th century and early 17th century, composers began pushing the limits of the Renaissance style. Madrigalism reached new heights of emotional expression and chromaticism in what Claudio Monteverdi called his seconda pratica (second practice), which he saw originating with Cipriano de Rore and developing in the music of composers such as Luca Marenzio and Giaches de Wert. This music was characterized by increased dissonance and by sections of homophony, which led to such traits of the early baroque as unequal voices where the bass line drove the harmonies and the treble melody became more prominent and soloistic. This transitional period between the Renaissance and baroque included the development of the Sicilian polyphonic school in the works of Pietro Vinci, the first extant polyphony written by women, the fusion of Hebrew texts and European music in the works of Salomone Rossi, and the virtuosic women's music of Luzzasco Luzzaschi performed by the Concerto delle donne in Ferrara. Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi in Venice, 1640, by Bernardo Strozzi. ... Cypriano de Rore or Cipriano de Rore (1515 or 1516 – September 1565) was a Franco-Flemish composer and teacher. ... Luca Marenzio (1553? - August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. ... Giaches de Wert (1535 – May 6, 1596) was a Franco-Flemish composer active in Italy. ... Homophony is a musical term that describes the texture of two or more instruments or parts moving together and using the same rhythm. ... Salamone Rossi (about 1570 – about 1630) was an Italian violinist and composer of the Jewish faith. ... Luzzasco Luzzaschi (c. ... Ferrara is a city, an archiepiscopal see in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, capital city of the province of Ferrara. ...

Baroque era, 16th – 18th centuries

Claudio Monteverdi

The exact nature of ancient Greek musical drama is a matter of dispute. What is important, however, for the later development of Italian and European music is that poets and musicians of the Florentine Camerata in the late 1500s thought--in the words of one of them, Jacopo Peri--that the "ancient Greeks sang entire tragedies on the stage".^[11] Thus was born the musical version of the Italian Renaissance: paying tribute to classical Greece by retelling Greek myths within a staged musical context--the first operas. The works emerged in this period with relatively simple melodies and the texts about Greek mythology sung in Italian. (Opera may have deeper roots in the Tuscan maggio drammatico tradition^[12][13]). Three cities are especially important in this period in Italy: Venice, as the birthplace of commercial opera; Rome, for Palestrina's school of Renaissance polyphony; and Naples, as the birthplace of church-sponsored music conservatories. These conservatories evolved into training grounds, providing composers and musicians for Italy and, indeed, Europe as a whole. Claudio Monteverdi is considered the first great composer of the new musical form, opera, the person who turned Florentine novelty into a "unified musical drama with a planned structure."^[14] Download high resolution version (514x636, 89 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (514x636, 89 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The Music of Ancient Greece is almost completely lost. ... The Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama. ... Jacopo Peri (August 20, 1561 – August 12, 1633) was an Italian composer and singer, often called the inventor of opera. ... This article covers the Greek civilization. ... This stub article is related specificially to Music History. ... Country Italy Region Veneto Province Venice (VE) Mayor Massimo Cacciari (since April 18, 2004) Elevation m Area 412 km² Population  - Total (as of December 31, 2004) 271,251  - Density 646/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Veneziani Dialing code 041 Postal code 30100 Frazioni Chirignago, Favaro Veneto, Mestre... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) coordinates: 41°54′N 12°29′E Time Zone: UTC+1 Administration Subdivisions 19 municipi Province Rome Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni ( The Union ) Characteristics Area 1,285 km² Population 2,547,677 (2005 estimate) Density 1983... Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (born in Palestrina (Praeneste) near Rome, 1525, latest February 1, 1526 – February 2, 1594 in Rome) was an Italian composer of Renaissance music. ... Raphael was famous for depicting illustrious figures of the Classical past with the features of his Renaissance contemporaries. ... Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Nàpule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region and the Province of Naples. ... Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi in Venice, 1640, by Bernardo Strozzi. ...

The years 1600 to 1750 encompass the musical Baroque. A new dominance of melody within harmony at the expense of text led to great changes, including the expansion of instrumental resources of the orchestra. The keyboard was extended, and the making of stringed instruments by Antonio Stradivari became a great industry in Cremona. Instrumental music started to develop as a separate "track," quite apart from the traditional role of accompanying the human voice. Instrumental forms include such things as the sonata, symphony, and concerto. Important names in music within this period in Italy are Alessandro Scarlatti, and Antonio Vivaldi, representing the importance of Naples and Venice, respectively, within this period. Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 to 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ... Antonio Stradivari examining an instrument in an ancient print. ... This article is about the city of Cremona. ... Sonata (From Latin and Italian sonare, to sound), in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to cantata (Latin cantare, to sing), a piece sung. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The term concerto usually refers to a musical work in which one solo instrument is contrasted with an orchestra. ... Alessandro Scarlatti Alessandro Scarlatti (May 2, 1660 – October 24, 1725) was a Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. ... Unconfirmed portrait of Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (March 4, 1678, Venice – July 28 (or 27), 1741, Vienna), nicknamed Il Prete Rosso (The Red Priest), was an Italian priest and baroque music composer, as well as a famous violinist. ...

The San Carlo theater (building on right in photo) in Naples.

The physical resources for music advanced greatly during the 1700s. The great opera houses in Naples and Milan were built: the San Carlo Theater and La Scala, respectively. It is the age, as well, of the rise to prominence of the Neapolitan—and then Italian—Comic opera. Important, too, is the restoring of balance between text and music in opera, largely through the librettos of Pietro Trapassi, called Metastasio.^[15] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (864x1152, 187 KB)My own privately taken photo. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (864x1152, 187 KB)My own privately taken photo. ... The San Carlo is a famous opera house in Naples, Italy. ... La Scala by night This article is about the opera house. ... Comic opera is a subcategory of opera, and denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature. ... Pietro Trapassi (January 13, 1698 - April 12, 1782), Italian poet, is better known by his pseudonym of Metastasio. ...

Important Italian composers in this century are: Domenico Scarlatti, Benedetto Marcello, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Niccolò Piccinni, Giovanni Paisiello, Luigi Boccherini, Domenico Cimarosa, and Luigi Cherubini. It is also the age in which Italian music became international, so to speak, with many Italian composers beginning to work abroad. Domenico Scarlatti (October 26, 1685 – July 23, 1757) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. ... Benedetto Marcello (July 31 or August 1, 1686–July 24, 1739), was an Italian composer. ... Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (January 4, 1710 - March 16, 1736) was an Italian composer, violinist and organist. ... Niccolo Piccinni (January 16, 1728 - May 7, 1800) was an Italian composer of classical music. ... Paisiello at the clavichord, by Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1791. ... Luigi Boccherini Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini (February 19, 1743 – May 28, 1805) was a classical era composer and cellist from Italy, whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. ... Domenico Cimarosa (December 17, 1749-January 11, 1801), Italian opera composer, was born at Aversa, in the kingdom of Naples. ... Luigi Cherubini (September 14, 1760 – March 15, 1842) was an Italian composer. ...

Giuseppe Verdi.

Portrait of Giuseppe Verdi by Giovanni Boldini (1886) National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Portrait of Giuseppe Verdi by Giovanni Boldini (1886) National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...

19th century

The 19th century is the age of Romanticism in European literature, art, and music. Italian opera forsakes the Comic opera for the more serious fare of Italian lyric Romanticsm. Although the generally light-hearted and ever-popular Rossini was certainly an exception to that, Italian music of the 19th century is dominated at the beginning by the likes of Bellini and Donizetti, giving to Italian music the lyrical melodies that have remained associated with it ever since. Then, the last fifty years of the century were dominated by Giuseppe Verdi, the greatest musical icon in Italian history. Verdi's music "sought universality within national character"^[16]; that is, much of what he composed in terms of historical themes could be related to his pan-Italian vision. Verdi was the composer of the Italian Risorgimento, the movement to unify Italy in the 19th century. Later in the century is also the time of the early career of Giacomo Puccini, perhaps the greatest composer of pure melody in the history of Italian music. Comic opera is a subcategory of opera, and denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature. ... Portrait Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (February 29, 1792 – November 13, 1868) was an Italian musical composer who wrote more than 30 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. ... Vincenzo Bellini Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (November 3, 1801 – September 23, 1835) was an Italian opera composer. ... Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was a famous Italian opera composer. ... Giuseppe Verdi, by Giovanni Boldini, 1886 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome). ... Italian unification, also known as Risorgimento (resurrection), was a historical process by which the Kingdom of Sardinia (ruled by the Savoy dynasty with Turin as its capital) gradually conquered the Italian peninsula, including the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Duchy of Modena, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy... Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (December 22, 1858 – November 29, 1924) is regarded as one of the great operatic composers of the late 19th and early 20th century. ...

Frontispiece from the score of Cavalleria Rusticana, a masterpiece of Italian Verismo from 1890.

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of Italian musical form in the 19th century, and that which distinguishes it from musical developments elsewhere, is that it remained primarily operatic. All significant Italian composers of the century wrote opera almost to the exclusion of other forms, such as the symphony.^[17] There are no Italian symphonists in this century, the way one might speak of Brahms in Germany, for example. Many Italian composers, however, did write significant sacred music, however, well-known examples of which are the Stabat Mater and Messa solenne by Rossini and the Requiem Mass by Giuseppe Verdi. Image File history File links Cavrust. ... Image File history File links Cavrust. ... Johannes Brahms. ... Portrait Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (February 29, 1792 – November 13, 1868) was an Italian musical composer who wrote more than 30 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. ... Giuseppe Verdi, by Giovanni Boldini, 1886 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome). ...

Romanticism in all European music certainly held on through the turn of the century. In Italy, the music of Verdi and Puccini continued to dominate for a number of years. Even the realistic plots and more modern compositional techniques of the operas of Italian Verismo, such as Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, did not greatly affect the extremely melodic nature of Italian music. Verismo was an Italian literary movement born approximately between 1875 and 1895. ... Pietro Mascagni (Livorno December 7, 1863 – Rome August 2, 1945) is one of the most important Italian opera composers of the turn of the 20th century. ... Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to a libretto by Targioni-Tozzetti and Menasci, adapted from a short story by Giovanni Verga. ...

References

• Atlas, Allan W. (1998). Renaissance Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393971694.
• Crocker, Richard L (1966). A History of Musical Style. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0486250296.
• McKinnon, James, ed. (1991). Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Eaglewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0130361534.
• Hiley, David (1995). Western Plainchant: A Handbook. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198165722.
• Ulrich, Homer; Paul Pisk (1963). A History of Music and Musical Style. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanoich. ISBN 0155377205.
• Gallo, Alberto (1995). Music in the Castle: Troubadours, Books and Orators in Italian Courts of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226279685.
• Hoppin, Richard (1978). Medieval Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393090906.
• (Italian) (1992) Magrini, Tullia (ed.) Il maggio drammatico: una tradizione di teatro in musica. Bologna: Edizioni Analisi.
• Paliska, Calude V (1985). Humanism in Italian Musical Thought. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300049625.

Notes

1. ^ McKinnon, pp. 318-320
2. ^ Ulrich and Pisk, p. 27.
3. ^ Hiley, p. 546.
4. ^ Ulrich and Pisk, p. 33.
5. ^ (Gallo 1995)
6. ^ Ulrich and Pisk, p. 185.
7. ^ Hoppin, p. 438.
8. ^ Atlas, p. 494.
9. ^ Atlas, p. 406.
10. ^ Atlas, p. 583.
11. ^ Paliska, p. 408.
12. ^ Lomax, p. 126.
13. ^ Magrini (1992).
14. ^ Ulrich and Pisk, p. 220.
15. ^ Crocker, p. 341.
16. ^ Crocker, p. 473.
17. ^ Crocker, ch. 13.